Hope For Haiti Now Announces Star Line-Up
George Clooney's MTV telethon, "Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief" is evolving into what could possibly be the largest fundraising effort ever seen by the entertainment industry. What was originally a two-hour two-city benefit will now showcase major events in New York, Los Angeles and London, featuring some of the world's biggest talents.
Wyclef Jean, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige, Shakira and Sting will represent on the East Coast; Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Dave Matthews, John Legend, Justin Timberlake, Stevie Wonder, Taylor Swift, Keith Urban and Sheryl Crow on the West Coast, and Bono, The Edge, Coldplay, Rihanna and Jay-Z will be rocking across the pond.
Between performances, viewers will get reports from Anderson Cooper on the ground in Haiti, Wyclef Jean hosting in New York, and from the man himself, George Clooney, in LA. He'll be joined by one hundred-plus of the most powerful names in music, TV and film, who will be answering phones and offering personal stories of inspiration.
Proceeds will be split evenly among the event's beneficiaries: Partners in Health, founded by Paul Farmer, Thomas J. White and Todd McCormac, Wyclef's Yele Haiti Foundation, the recently formed Clinton Bush Haiti Fund, Oxfam, the Red Cross, UNICEF and the United Nations World Food Programme.
Last week MSNBC reported that MTV, NBC, ABC, CNN and HBO would air the telethon. Since then, event producers have successfully garnered the support of a remarkable number of media outlets, making this the most widely distributed telethon in history. The program will air on nearly every network imaginable and be lived streamed online by sites including YouTube, AOL, MSN, Yahoo and Rhapsody. Many networks will push it internationally, including MTV in China, which will feature the first US-based telethon aired in the country.
So, turn on pretty much any channel, log onto almost any website or even download it to your phone. We don't care where you watch it! Just tune in, rock out and donate whatever you can on Friday, January 22, 2010 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT and 7:00 p.m. CT.